Admission Procedure at Comenius in (CUB)

A.1. The authenticity of signatures

The authenticity of signatures and of the school’s stamp mark on the documents on obtained outside of must be certified by a relevant body of a member state of the EU, a state of the European Area of Higher Education, the Swiss Confederation or the third country competent to verify relevant documents. (The requirement is not applicable to documents issued by a recognized university based in the territory of the French Republic and Ukraine).

Authentication of signatures and seals on the original educational documentation by the competent body of the state in question is done by an apostille or superlegalisation (see section D), unless an international agreement states otherwise.

We recommend to prepare 2 notary‐verified copies of the legalized documents – One for the Registrar's Office of the Faculty (Application procedure B.1.) and the other for the official (=certified) translator into (for recognizing of study documents in B.2.).

A.2. Application fee:

An application fee of 33 EUR needs to be paid before application by a bank transfer to: IBAN: SK 88 8180 0000 0070 0013 8327 SWIFT: SPSRSKBA Account name: Univerzita Komenského v Bratislave Bank address: Všeobecná úverová banka Mlynské Nivy 1 829 90 Bratislava

The following reference for the recipient has to be included: VS800 your name

B. Application Procedure for Bachelor students from outside of Slovakia

B.1. Application for Admission at Faculty of Mathematics, Physics and Informatics (FMPH)

The application form is available at: http://zona.fmph.uniba.sk/fileadmin/fmfi/fakulta/tlaciva/prihlaska_fmfi_mgr_eng.docx

The signed application form and the following documents  Notary‐verified copy of legalized bachelor´s degree diploma (in English) or Confirmation of study towards university degree (in English). In case an applicant has not completed his/her bachelor study but expects to receive his/her diploma within a few months, see Section E.  Official transcript of completed courses during the bachelor studies or a certified copy of the diploma supplement if such document is issued by the university or other educational institution of the country concerned  Internationally recognized English language certificate (copy)  Structured CV in English  Copy of passport (page with photograph and personal data)  Two academic reference letters in English  Motivation letter in English  Confirmation of application fee payment (copy) have to be sent by post to the following address by April 24, 2017: Fakulta matematiky, fyziky a informatiky UK Mlynská dolina 842 48 Bratislava Slovakia

FMPH at CUB decides on admission based on the competence acquired in the preceding Bachelor study. FMPH will accept students who completed a bachelor program in Physics at the (UW) or at the CUB without further examination or restrictions (direct access). Applications by students without direct access will be evaluated individually and jointly by CUB and UW. Based on the evaluation of the application, an admission exam at CUB may be required. Successful applicants having diploma from Slovak or from Czech accredited universities with seat on the territory of Czech Republic will be sent a letter of acceptance, other applicants will be asked to start process B.2.

B.2. Recognizing Certificates on the 1st and 2nd Education Degree Acquired at Universities Abroad

In addition, students are required to fulfill conditions equivalent to students from Slovakia. Accepted applicants from abroad and Slovak citizens, who completed their bachelor's degree at institutions outside of Slovakia, will be required to provide a Certificate of degree equivalence confirming that their bachelor's degree is recognized in Slovakia.

Where to send Application:

The applicant shall pay attention to which University in Slovakia offers the same or similar programme as that completed abroad and send the application for diploma recognition to the appropriate University:

– in Bratislava (CUB) may decide on recognition of a diploma issued by a foreign university only if the study programme in the study field is the same or related to the study programmes in the study fields carried out at Comenius University. In that case, the Comenius University issues the Certificate of degree equivalence. Thus, before submitting the application, pay attention to the list of accredited study programmes. List of subjects in Bachelor physics is at https://sluzby.fmph.uniba.sk/infolist/sk/sp_FYZ.html (In Slovak, English version is not available)

– Slovak Technical University in Bratislava (STU) may decide on recognition of a diploma issued by a foreign university only if the study programme in the study field is the same or related to the study programmes in the study fields carried out at STU. (Study plans for individual study programmes can be viewed at http://is.stuba.sk/katalog/plany.pl?lang=en . Applications for recognition of a document on education at STU see http://www.stuba.sk/english/degree‐students/recognition‐of‐documents/recognition‐of‐diplomas‐of‐ higher‐education‐for‐academic‐purposes.html?page_id=9619

– other higher education institution in the Slovak Republic if the study programme in the study field is the same or related to the study programmes in the study fields carried out at that institution

– Ministry of Education, Science, Research and Sport of the Slovak Republic, in case there is no similar study program currently offered in the Slovak Republic, see full text at http://www.minedu.sk/academic‐recognition‐of‐diplomas/

The application form for recognition of documents on education at CUB is available at: http://uniba.sk/fileadmin/ruk/studium/Predpisy/Statisticke_udaje/AJ_Tlacivo_ziadosti_o_uznanie_doklado v_‐_2016.pdf

When submitting the application for recognition of a document on education, applicants need to attach additional documents:

1. a notary‐verified copy of a legalized (superlegalized or apostilled) (see Section D) document on education (bachelor's diploma) issued by an accredited university outside the territory of Slovakia or by other educational institution of the country concerned (incl. unaccredited Czech education institutions); 2. a certified translation of this document into the official language of the Slovak Republic; 3. a certified copy of the diploma supplement if such document is issued by the university or other educational institution of the country concerned, or a certified copy of a transcript of subjects and examinations taken; 4. a certified translation of this document into the official language of the Slovak Republic; 5. a copy of the original document on previous education acquired prior to the education which is the subject of the application (usually high school document), and its translation in English and Slovak, notary verification is not required 6. a copy of proof of identity; 7. proof of payment of executory costs of 6.50 € via the E‐KOLOK electronic payment system (this can be paid at Slovak post offices only);

Documents on education have to be submitted for recognition (in paper form) to Comenius University in Bratislava Department of Academic Affairs, Rectorate of the Comenius University in Bratislava Šafárikovo nám. 6 P. O. BOX 440, 814 99 Bratislava 1

This procedure may take 2 months in general. For applications by graduates from the state recognized education institutions on the territory of European Higher Education Area member states, i.e. Albania, Andorra, Armenia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Holy See, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Kazakhstan, Latvia, Lichtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Moldova, Montenegro, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Macedonia, Turkey, Ukraine, United Kingdom and Belarus, the recognition process is automatic and needs 15 days (process can be, if it is deemed necessary, prolonged by 30 days in accordance with Slovak legislative rules).

Apart from the listed documents applicants may be requested to submit other documents and information if this is deemed necessary for comprehensive assessment of the equivalence of education acquired abroad.

Comenius University in Bratislava is obliged to file the officially recognized copies of documents on education submitted by the applicant for the purpose of issuing a decision on recognition of education. Due to this reason they are not to be given back to the applicant.

The applicant may receive a positive decision, a negative decision (refusal of recognition on education) or a decision on imposing differentiation examinations.

The fee for the recognizing certificate of documents on education is 100 €, or 50 € if the documents on education are recognized automatically. (This fee is different from the executory costs of 6.50 €. The Department of Academic Affairs of the Rectorate of Comenius University in Bratislava will send the applicant details how to pay this fee if the decision is positive.) The certificate must be provided to the Registrar's Office on the day of registration for the first year of studies at the latest (early September).

C. Letter of Acceptance

When CUB Registrar's Office obtains the decision on diploma recognition, the admission process ends, and applicants will receive an official decision letter about acceptance (official Letter of Acceptance) or rejection of their application at the address they have indicated in their application form.

D. Superlegalization or Apostille

Authentication of signatures and seals on the original educational documentation is done by the competent body of the state in question (apostille, superlegalisation), unless an international agreement states otherwise,

D.1. Apostille

If the document was issued in a country/State Party for which the Apostille Convention is in force, then

the document must be given an apostille that can be obtained by the institution in a given country that was authorized for giving apostilles. In this case the Apostille substitutes the superlegalization. The up‐to‐date list of „apostille states“ and the authorized institutions can be found at web page below. Note that the list of these state may change. We recommend to start reading especially "How to get an apostille" page: https://www.hcch.net/en/instruments/conventions/specialised‐sections/faq1

D.2. Superlegalization

If the document was issued in a country/State Party for which the Apostille Convention is not in force, then

we advise that the client should contact the consular officer of the Slovak embassy who will give the client information on the superlegalisation procedure as it may differ from country to country. In case the Slovak embassy is not situated in the given country – the document is superlegalized by the Slovak embassy in the country accredited for the given country. Frequently the documents must be proved (1) by the appropriate institution that overheads education in the given country (usually it is Ministry of Education), then (2) by the Ministry of foreign affairs in the given country and (3) after that, it must be superlegalized by the Slovak embassy in the given country.

E. Applicants in the Final Year of their Bachelor Study

Students expecting to complete their Bachelor study soon can apply for admission to the Joint Master Study “Physics of the Earth” already in April. In this case students send a confirmation issued by the university study office that they are students together with the list of passed courses and grades.

E.1. Students who will obtain their diploma from educational institutions in European Higher Education Area member states (EHEA) at the beginning of August, have to have their documents apostilled (in most EU countries) without any delay and to send them to the Faculty Registrar's office in August. At the same time, as soon as possible they should have translated their documents into Slovak and send to the appropriate university to get the "Certificate of degree equivalence, see B2 (the latter lasts 2 weeks for EU diplomas). If there are no delays it is possible to meet the August 31st deadline. It is recommended to foresee these compatibility issues in B2 and to prepare addresses of the Office of Competent Apostille Authority and translators in advance.

E.2. Students who will obtain their diplomas outside EHEA not later than early in June have also chance to meet the August deadline.